MARKETINGYEAR
MIDDLE EAST
27
21 December 2008
BRAND NEW
The lapse of luxury
THE NATIONAL, April 17
The National, an English-language daily,
As marketing budgets in vital sectors begin to shrink, the entire industry
launches. Published by the Abu Dhabi
will need to raise its game
Media Company, it is the UAE’s sixth daily
national. And the colours are pretty.
IN MIDDECEMBER, Gulf News ran
a headline that seemed to contradict
everything we thought we knew about
the current state of the UAE econo-
MINDSHARE,
my: UAE CONSUMERS OBLIVIOUS
September 24
OF PROBLEMS.
Mindshare releases its newly rebranded
And it got better. In the body of the
logo to coincide with the agency’s ongoing
piece, there was mention of a ‘boom on
global restructure which was announced
spending’, an ‘expansion of retail space’
earlier in the year.
and ‘robust growth’. Just like the good
old days! By the time we got to the bit
about the ‘unstoppable appetite’ of con-
sumers here, it was all we could do to
suppress a little yelp of glee—until, that
NOOR DUBAI TV, August 24 is, we understood that this unstoppable
AMG launches a free-to-air TV channel appetite is for ‘affordable products’.
which is to focus on community Turns out, the Gulf News piece was
programming called Noor Dubai. a classic bait-and-switch. “Consumers
will not stop buying tissue or toilet pa-
per,” said one source in the story, help-
fully. “Try and imagine getting up in the
morning without a toothbrush.” And
then the kicker: “Consumers may be
spending less on luxury items.”
When the region
THE DUBAI MALL, November 5
was awash in ad
The Dubai Mall opens its doors. The
dollars, marketers’
branding of a shopping mall requires a few
simple things to work. Shopping, credit
threats to withdraw
cards, parking and, of course, doors. from media outlets
that didn’t toe the
line sent shivers
of apathy down
publishers’ and
GAMES EXPO , October 29
broadcasters’
Warlocks and go-kart racing find a home in
Dubai as Games ’08 opens for the first time.
spines—they’d
ABG’s Louis Hakim may be an unlikely benefactor of the credit crunch
UAE kids and gaming journos now have a simply get
place to swap notes on zit remedies and
their revenue
chairman. The news was greeted, for the This fall, Al Nisr publishing trawled
Sim City cheats. most part, with stifled yawns. After all, the global market for someone to head
elsewhere.
there seemed little chance that Louis up its magazine publishing division.
Hakim, CEO of Philips Middle East, Traditionally, Al Nisr titles—4Men, Fri-
The fact is, while it is indeed true that would fare much better than his prede- day, Aquarius and others—have been
few of us can imagine waking up in the cessor, former Unilever Chairman Jan Zi- characterised by high production value
morning without a toothbrush, an in- jderveld, who didn’t fare very well at all. and low editorial quality. The formula,
creasing number of us can imagine wak- Founded in 2005—as the GCC Asso- after all, worked—Al Nisr has never
SALT & PEPPER, February 25
ing up without a jewel-encrusted mo- ciation of Advertisers—this client-led wanted for ads.
Salt & Pepper opens in Dubai to “shake
bile phone or a Dhs2,000 D&G T-shirt. pressure group has essentially failed in But the times, as we all know, are a-
up” the events scene, organising high-
And this—no matter how enthusiastic its mission to get regional media to clean changing. According to one extremely
end corporate events for clients such as
consumers may be about washing their up their act. The group’s calls for more qualified and experienced candidate
Heineken and Al Aqili Furnishings.
hair and wiping themselves after using transparency and accountability, for the interviewed for the group editor role—
the lavatory—spells trouble for the en- introduction of people meters and the who spoke to Media Week after meeting
tire communications industry. implementation of auditing, have gone the Al Nisr brass—the publisher claimed
For years, pundits have lauded the largely unheeded. to have adopted a newfound determina-
contribution the luxury market has The reason for this is simple: You can- tion to up the quality stakes on its titles.
made to the advertising industry here. not apply pressure if you don’t have any Given the shrinking revenue pie, it may
The flip side of this, of course, is that leverage. The fact is, when the region was well have to. Meanwhile, in media com-
when luxury marketers start to tighten awash in ad dollars, marketers’ threats to panies across the region, we are just
THE ATLANTIS, September 24 their belts, we all must follow. Throw withdraw from media outlets that didn’t starting to see a creeping acceptance of
Need we say more? The unmistakable in other flailing sectors aimed at high toe the GCC AA/ABG line sent shivers of the kind of metrics ABG members have
hotel, villa and apartment development net worth individuals, such as financial apathy down publishers’ and broadcast- been demanding for years.
opens quietly to start with, waiting for its services and real estate, and things start ers’ spines—they’d simply get their rev- Needless to say, no one in the mar-
big date with Kylie. looking very bleak indeed. enue elsewhere. keting community is breaking out the
In the long run, the rot that set in this The economic slump of 2008, how- champagne just yet. The increased lev-
year could turn out to be a good thing ever, and the rising sense of panic it has erage it now enjoys over media comes at
for marketers in the region. To under- instilled in the media industry here, has the expense of dwindling sales. And no
stand why, we need only take a look at meant that these threats have needed to matter how strong the toothpaste and
FLY DUBAI, June 25
the hitherto futile efforts of marketers to be taken seriously. Indeed, standards laundry detergent market remains, the
Dubai’s much-discussed budget airline
gain more control over their ad dollars across the board will likely improve as effects of this downturn will continue
carrier is finally named. Imaginatively, we
in the region. a result of the current situation—one to ripple throughout the industry. From
think you’ll agree.
In the middle of the year, the Adver- widely overlooked but telling occurrence PR to advertising to media, we will all
tisers Business Group appointed a new in 2008 may help to illustrate this fact. need to raise our game.
www.mediaweekme.com
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